Marvel: 2011-09-10 - Are You Sure She's Mine?
Life is far from easy for Scott Summers. Not because he is displeased with it mind you, but...well...it's an anniversary of when Jean came back to life as they say, or rather the Avengers found her and returned her to the X-Men. Not that Scott is exactly well known for remembering anniversaries, but hey, Xavier pointed it out to him. And Scott is glad he did. So it's a six month anniversary, not a big deal, right? Well, six months of life after you were in a coma for...anyway, that's not the point. Scott steps out of Colorful Boutique with a small brown bag with the name of the shoppe printed on it, within hand. Geez, who knew scarfs were so expensive! He bought three of the darn things, different colors he thought Jean would like. A firey orange, a vivid blue, and a red he thinks might match her hair....he hopes...considering he sees the world entirely in red, he has to guess at the actual shades...alright, he admits it, it's what the shop attendent said would look good on Jean after he described her. He sighs down at the bag in hand, not appearing the most pleased right now. Always obsessing over details. Logan has been drinking. This can be determined by three factors, he's been awake more than a couple of hours, the day has a y in it and he's leaving Harry's. To be fair Logan's a social drinker... Well ok, Logan drinks for reasons other than getting drunk, to call him social would be a little extreme. But either way he leaves Harry's in a sober enough state, his hand in his pocket as he puts away his wallet, he either hasn't seen Scott, or has decided to ignore him for now. The latter more likely to be fair. The day's crystal clear. Not a cloud to be seen. Yet there are zips of lightning skittering between the trees a ways ahead of both gentlemen. The characteristic sound of thunder. Then the trees start bending in a sudden wind as the lightning starts coagulating upon a central spot, arcing together into a singular location and then expanding into a globe that belches fire and brimstone, a little bit of smoke, increasing in size. Cresting at a size of a small house, the globe suddenly contracts and seems to spit out a human-shaped form, vanishing into nothing as the young woman contained in the nimbus catapults into a parked car, setting off its alarm, before sliding to the ground with a thump. Scott raises his arm as if to block okut the worse of the light. "Crap." You know, he hates shopping, and this is why. Cause normally he wishes for something to happen to pull him away from the shopping, and when it does, he regrets it. This is the center of the shopping district, that small fancy little medium strip that was made up all pretty? Well, it's ashes now, and there is damage to the road as well likely. Still, a girl survived from it. He glances about and notices Logan. Scott makes a hand motion to catch his attention, and then motions toward the figure that just flopped onto the broken blacktop. Scott instead moves to try and stop the gawking people, "Best to step away, just in case. Nothing to see here." "What you mean nothing to see here? Is it an attack?!" The man that speaks seems to be in a panic. Scott merely speaks reassuringly, "Please, do not worry. I am from Xavier's Institute." He hates pointing that out. "I am not sure on the details, but I do not believe it to be an attack," at this time he adds silently. "Please just step back and let me look into the situation, as I have experience with mutants." One person curses about filty mutants, but Scott just smiles that strained smile of his, "Please, your patience. It may just be an accident. And though the property damage is sad, so far, it appears to be only property damage harmed." As Scott deals with the public, it gives Logan time if he listened to Scott's command, to check out the 'explodey' figure. Yes, send the guy with the healing factor up close to the individual that just survived one hell of an explosion that almost took the sidewalk with it. Logan doesn't need the hand motion, his attention goes straight from the girl to Scott and back again. He lets Scott deal with the crowd while he heads over to the girl. His expression stone cold, he's not sure it's not an attack, though he suspects an attack would involve more people, and there's a chance she's hurt. Rachel Summers doesn't seem to be attacking anyone or anything, but her attire is out of this world. A skin-tight bodysuit with blunted spikes running along her arms and down her front, very dirty and disheveled, hound marks ripped across her face, and a seriously dazed expression on that face. "Wha...?" she mumbles as she tries to lever herself upright, squinting around her at the bright colors of the shopping area and the people gawking at her, all wearing fashions at least twenty years out of date. "Where am I?" she queries, focusing on the two men approaching. "No... no... it can't be... not you... Daddy?" And for a moment, it's not clear which of the two she's talking about. Scott is a bit of, glancing back over your shoulder...not likely to hear Rachel at this point. As he is still arguing with the crowd and winces when someone says, "I called the cops! They can come arrest whatever that is!" Scott's jaw sets. If he wasn't going to help her before - and that was a bit iffy and dependent on what the individual had to say - he wants to help the person now. It's the bigotry that gets him, but he keeps his temper, "I am sure damange will be taken care of in some way or another. However, as I'm sure this was an accident, I doubt charges need to be pressed. Just stay back," the last words said as a sharp order. Only after he makes sure no one is going to stupidly come forward for pictures or whatever, does he turn to look for Logan's signal if it is safe to approach....meaning, the girl isn't about to go all explodey again, but he is watching from just a few yards away, and closer than the rest of the crowd...and yes, obviously in full view of Rachel. Considering her apparent age, it would be much more likely that she's speaking of Logan... He doesn't remember any kids, but then again he doesn't remember much of anything so he can be forgiven that right? Still he schools his expression to that neutrality. "Ain't got a clue who your daddy is kid? Why don't you explain what's going on?" Rachel Summers picks herself off the ground, glancing over her shoulder at the car whose alarm is going off. For a moment, the thought crosses her face almost visibly that she probably wants to just upend it to silence it, however the sharp whipcrack of her father's voice, giving orders as she always remembered him doing in a crisis, is enough to cause her to dismiss the notion unspoken, undone. Instead, she moves away to where things are quieter (somewhat), tears in her eyes. "Of all the people I expected to see, I never thought it would be you." Again with the vague, the redhead's expression is one of warring delight and vast sorrow. "And me looking like this... god... where am I? /When/ am I? This can't be happening..." If anything, she's acting a lot like a strung-out junkie. "Tell them to shut up, please tell them... I can't keep their thoughts out." Their audience is certainly getting to her as she squeezes her eyes shut and tries to eject the crowd's bigoted remarks out of her mind. Scott is finally approaching when she doesn't go explodey and Logan still has his claws in his hands. Wow, what a great way to judge if someone is 'friendly'. His strides are confident, and his back straight. There is a stiffness to his movements that speak of iron clad control. He will not show weakness that anyone can jump on right now. And yes, he is still carrying a bag of scarfs, with Colorful Boutique clearly stamped on the front of the brown paperbag. Scott's expression is serious, partially hidden by the thick red lensed glasses. "Miss," he says in greeting, his tone quiet and professional. He turns his head briefly toward Logan, his way of asking for a 'status report', rather than jumping into questioning Rachel immediately. Though he does turn to look at Rachel again, examining her to see if her body has any damage. She has red hair....he can tell. Strange clothes, very...is that punkish? Wide...beautiful eyes...and they make him want to smile a bit, but he restrains the impulse. Frowning a little Logan's generally quite good at keeping his feelings under wraps. He's also pretty much a blank slate to telepaths unless they push hard, even then they don't usually get much that's useful. He nods a little to Scott. "Might be worth getting her somewhere away from the crowds before we start in on the questions... They seem to be... upsetting her." Rachel Summers doesn't seem to have acquired any new bruises from her jaunt and crashing into someone's car, but the presence of her father and her father's friend and favorite irritant are enough to let her go with them willingly. "R... Rachel," she gets out after a moment, her green eyes widening as she tries to recall anything else. "You named me Rachel when I was born." And she stumbles away from the crowd. "Something went wrong... I shouldn't be here... where's Kate?" "I, what?" Oh great, don't let it be another alternative dimension...maybe this one he wouldn't have stupidly attacked the school. Na...wait till Logan leaves it to kil...wait, no, bad thought, bad thought. He's the good guy. "I'm not sure who Kate is, Rachel." But Scott attempts to smile comfortingly, but he doesn't quiet get it. He isn't the comforting type. Nor is Logan. Poor Rachel. "I only have my motorcycle, but we can go to a quieter place if that would be best. Are you steady enough to ride a motorcycle Miss...Rachel?" So polite to the crazily dressed lady! Logan frowns a little, he's been listening to what's been said. "He named you?" Logan thrusts a thumb at Scott. "Well Summers, sounds like you should drop the 'Miss' I'm guessing she's your daughter... Or will be." His amusement fades a little as the rest sinks in. "I also figure she looks a lot like her mother." He doesn't sound upset by that. "Smells a bit like her too." "Of course I smell like my mom!" Rachel protests, giving the two men an exasperated tone of voice. Probably sounds like her too. "Kate and I were trying to nuke the Sentinels, this new one that was gonna kill every mutant on the planet, and something went wrong. Kate... Pryde... yes. Pryde. Why did I forget her name? She's been like a mom to me since... oh god... when is it?" Turning teary fearful eyes up to the two men, she stops. "I need to know..." Scott stiffens at that, "Excuse me?" Daughter?! He thinks his brain just blew a fuse, and something broke inside, especially the part of looking like her mother. Because him and Jean are still at the: Love her, happy to be with her, and no idea where exactly we stand with each other phase. "What?" Did he essentially say that earlier? Oh gawd, this is worse than when TJ first showed up. He will apologize to Kurt for silently laughing about the fact he had a daughter the same age as him, as soon as he actually accepts this. "Nuke is typically a bad word." Oh great, is he talking to a child?! She is not a child! Summers tries again after glaring at Logan, as if blaming him for all this happening in so epically wrong a manner. "Pryde? Kitty Pryde? She's...fine. She's fine." Sure, that helps out wonders! But Summers at least provides the year to Rachel, before finally saying, "We need the Professor," as if the Professor can make this all better by making it well, make sense. He moves to gently, but firmly take Rachel's arm and to lead her away toward the motorcycle. When someone calls out about them leaving the scene of a crime, Scott just calls out, "The police know where Xavier's Institute is located!" "...Kitty? Kitty's been like a mother to you?" Logan's proud of Kitty, yet at the same time the thought of her being a role model to anyone kind of makes his head hurt a little, she's still a kid herself right? "Why, what date are you worried about?" Is Logan trying to get info out of the kid as he makes his way towards his own bike... It certainly seems that way. "They were /killing/ us, dad!" Rachel growls out in a mild semblance of Logan. "Sentinels killed mutants on a daily basis." And then the year sinks in. "I haven't been born yet..." she murmurs in horror. "This wasn't supposed to happen! Kate and I... we weren't supposed to survive." And the tears flow again like a frickin' river, and this time, she allows herself to be bundled away from the scene of the alleged crime. "There wasn't anything else to live for... everyone was dead. Even you two... I felt you die..." this latter directed strictly to Logan. "We couldn't stop them, not without nuking the place..." "Great, tell me how Logan was killed off," he grumbles, feeling awkward as all get out! Scott then realizes what he said, "For academic purposes, of course." He hurries more, no point in egging Logan on, he has his hands full as is and doesn't have his combat visor with him. He leads Rachel to his Kawasaki Vulcan, a beauiful orange paint job with a black leather seat. He hands the helmet - which he only has one on him right now - to Rachel. "Save the tears for later, cause if you haven't been born yet, they haven't...we haven't died yet," or something. He then glares toward Logan, wondering if there really was a way to get rid of him. Great, better not think that, Jean would hear him, and then she would be all hurt and disappointed. Grrrrr! Nodding Logan reaches for a cigar as he mounts his bike. "Well then, I figure you did the right thing kid." He shrugs a shoulder as he looks at Summers. "And if that timelines Kitty was anything like ours... Well I know you did what needed to be done." Killing Logan's a complicated but possible matter, it's also possibly only a short term thing as well considering his tissue seems to regenerate practically indefinately, he might well be able to regenerate from nothing but his skeleton given time. He doesn't care if Scott's looking for ways to kill him. Far as he's concerned that'd still be a long way from levelling the playing field. He offers a shrug of his shoulder to Rachel. "It's M theory kid, timelines diverge, if you never game here in your time line then we've already moved away from it. You can help us change everything." Did Logan just talk physics? Rachel Summers takes the helmet proffered and eyes the motorcycle, a hand touching the gas tank as if remembering having seen it before. "I haven't seen this in years..." she murmurs, looking between the two men with some confusion on her face, especially with Logan spouting physics. "Changing things... yes... that's what Kate said I could do... but I didn't understand how... still don't... but yes. We have to stop it... I can't live through all of you dying again, I just can't." "You won't," Scott says with firmness. He won't lose Jean, not again, not when he got her back after thinking she was dead. He mounts the bike and starts it up, "Get on," he says. He just hopes he is doing the right thing...he shakes his head, he doesn't have time to question himself right now. He has to go with his gut feeling...which is getting Rachel...apparently Rachel Summers, to The Professor. Logan's smarter than most give him credit for. He knows basic physics well enough. "We'll deal with it." He arches an eyebrow as he looks at the pair of Summers. "Still we should get back to the manor see if we can sort this." With that he's starting his bike back towards the school. Rachel Summers clearly prefers her ersatz father's bike to Logan's ride, or at least she seems to. "The Professor!" she exclaims. "Yes... let's go see him. He'll be able to fix everything!" Putting the helmet on over her red tresses, she secures it neatly and with all the seriousness of someone doing this in front of her father and wanting there to be no adjustments in front of Logan or anything like that. Safety first! ---- Front Grounds - Xavier's Institute - North Salem Scott pulls up through the opened gates of the Front Grounds, left open when Logan pulled through. He heads straight to the garage, making sure the garage door opens up so he can park his bike inside. The front gate closes on its own. He turns the bike off and holds it up for Rachel to dismount before kicking down the - well - kick stand. Rachel Summers seems easy with the use of the motorcycle, sliding off as if born to it... which is not much of a surprise, considering she'd been riding her father's bikes as long as she can remember. She removes the helmet and hands it back, fingers running through her long red hair. Still, the hound marks, the punk outfit. Unusual for this time and place, and Rachel's eyes go to the mansion, once more getting a bit red and teary. "It's just like I remember..." she murmurs softly, her voice choked. "It's standing once more." Logan's parked up and waiting. His expression mildly amused. "Yeah, the school don't change much, at least not unless something's torn it down. And then Chuck generally wants us to put it back like it was." He shrugs a shoulder as he leans against the garage wall. "So, you want to tell us what started this whole proble off? Or you want to wait and tell it to the Professor?" "Let's see if the Professor is in." Scott takes the helmet and hangs it up, taking the motorcycle keys with him. He doesn't leave them in the garage anymore. "And...perhaps Jean." He doesn't know if he wants to protect her from the knowledge for a little longer, or tell her upfront...he gets conflicted about stuff like that with Jean...the need to protect, and the training to treat her as an equal. Rachel Summers furrows her brow and then gulps once. "I... I don't remember what it was... why can't I remember?" she asks, her voice taking on tinges of horror. "It was something major, I'm sure of it... something that led to normal humans over the edge and had them rounding us up and killing us..." She looks down at her costume, the spikes along her arms. "Some of us... they turned into hounds. I remember that... don't think I could ever forget it. We were forced to track our own kind... and watch... or listen in... as..." And she can't bring herself to speak the words. "We have to stop this... I'll remember, maybe the Professor can help me remember... but we can't let it happen again. I can't lose you again." "Maybe what you've been through is playing tricks with your memory kid, don't worry about it just yet." Logan's not quite as gruff as usual, memory issues hit home with him. And she does kind of remind him of Jean, that's big points in her favour. "We'll figure it out, just knowing to watch for it helps." Scott takes a deep breath. He doesn't have the emotional connect that Rachel has, but she is still a fellow mutant. His mind is still trying to grasp what is going on. He rubs a hand over his jaw, slightly rough....where did he put that bag? Oh ya...he heads back to the bike and gets into the saddle bags, pulling out the brown paper bag and hurrying up to rejoin Logan and Rachel. "Inside," he grunts out. He swears his brains are leaking through his ears. Suddenly, he really does wish Jean was there. "Let's just take this one step at a time. Let's see if The Professor is around first." "Maybe," Rachel answers Logan, but her voice carries a note of doubt. As they approach the mansion, she can't help but touch it as if to reassure herself it was there. Scott should consider himself lucky that she didn't pounce-hug him and have all his stuffings come out along with his brains. However, she can't help but stare at him. Not quite creepily, but very intensely, as if soaking up his very presence and being very very happy that he's still... dad. Logan shrugs a shoulder. "Well like I say, we can't worry about what we can't change." He looks at Scott for a moment. "You take little Red here and see if you can find the professor. I'll see if I can track down Jean, she'll wanna know about this, but it's probably best if she brought into this slowly." He raises a hand before Scott can argue. "And I'm the only one whose mind she won't pick it from." Scott's eyes are narrowed behind his sunglasses, and he really doesn't look happy. But he finally nods, logic winning him over. "Don't tell her, just say someone from another...time has come to visit. It shouldn't be something you tell her." He then heads inside. However, once he goes searching for The Professor, he will be finding out that he and Jean are in the chamber for telepathy training...that means, nothing in or out...telepathy is fully blocked from reaching the outside world and vise-ver-sa. They will have to wait.